God'sgift Ogban Uwen
Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Ekpenyong Nyong Akpanika
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Gregory Ajima Onah
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Ubong Eyo Ekpenyong
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Hilary Idiege Adie
Department of Public Administration, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Bob B. Etta
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
Romanus Aboh
Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar, Cross River, 540281, Nigeria
This article investigates the ways in which language is employed in the construction of social power in selected institutional discourses. Speech acts theory and Fairclough’s concept of language and power serve as the study’s theoretical anchor. Data were generated through (non)participant observations in a five-year fieldwork to examine the peculiarities in instantiating social power using specific terms in workplace interactions involving participants with unequal power derived from the social roles they perform within the scope of this study. During the period, institutional discourses that demonstrate the enactment of social power in medical, religious, political, legal, academic and security domains in Calabar Metropolis, South-south Nigeria, were closely observed and documented. The linguistic choices show institutional and power differentials in the rehearsal of social power among discourse participants where one wields more than the other(s). Social power, as demonstrated, is dynamic and excised using the domain’s registers and enacted towards the punishment, reward, confinement, reformation, freedom or general wellbeing of the recipient. The study enriches the understanding of how social power holders rely on inferred authority and certification from their professional affiliations and work conventions to construct and maintain social power.
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Copyright © 2024 God'sgift Ogban Uwen, Ekpenyong Nyong Akpanika, Gregory Ajima Onah, Ubong Eyo Ekpenyong, Hilary Idiege Adie, Bob B. Etta, Romanus Aboh
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